Island



(No Model.)

P. MOGEE.

PRESSURE EQUALIZBR FOR GAS MAINS;

No. 414,070. Patented Oct. 29, 1889.

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UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK MCGEE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

PRESSURE-EQUALIZER FOR GAS-MAINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 414,070, dated October29, 1889.

Application filed July 1, 1889. Serial No. 316,181. (No model.)

T0 at whom, it DMZ/y concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK McGEE, of the city of Providence, in thecounty of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Pressure-Equalizers for Gas-Mains, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The objects of this invention are the construction of a more durable andpositive acting device than the rubber gas-bags now in use onsupply-pipes of gas-engines, and also to prevent the sudden changes ofpressure in gas-mains and on the gas-meter and the consequent fiickeringof the gas-flames.

To these ends the invention consists in the peculiar construction of agas-chamber and inlet-main to receive the gas and adistributing-chamber, with its outlet-main, by which the inherentelasticity of the gas is utilized to cushion the reaction of the gaswhen the gas-discharge is suddenly stopped by the cut ting off of thegas-engine, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of my improved gas-pressureequalizer. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same.

In the drawings similar numbers of reference designate correspondingparts through out.

The number3indicates a branch pipe from the gas-main in the building inwhich a gasengine is connected with the gas main.

4 4 are the lateral outlets of the gas-supply branch or inlet pipe 3,They form with the inlet 3 an inverted letter T.

5 is a large chamber preferably made cylindrical in form. As the chamber5 is subjected only to the low gas-pressure, it can be made of lightsheet metal. The ends may be slightly curved or made straight. Thedischarge-chamber 6 is connected with the chamber 5 by a series of smallopenings 7.

The inlets 8 8 to the pipe 9 are placed lateral to the same, forming aletter T. The pipe 9 is connected with the gas-engine.

The outlets 4 4 and inlets 8 8 may have disks placed in front of thesame, so as to form annular inlets or outlets, or the ends of theseinlets and outlets may be placed so near the walls of the chambers as toform annular openings through which the gas must pass from and to thepipes. The joints between the pipes and the chamber are made gastight inany suitable manner. The hand-hole 10 is used for removing any water orother matter that may collect in the chamber.

The operation of this gas-pressure equalizer is as follows: The gasflowing from the main through the branch 3 enters the chamber 5 throughthe outlets 4 4 in athin radial sheet. The pressure in the chamber 5being the same as the pressure of the gas supplied, and the area of thechamber being, as shown in the drawings, about three hundred times thearea of the interior of the supply-pipe 3, the flow of the gas into thechamber is very slow. The gas from the chamber 5 passes through theholes 7 into the chamber 6. The gas used by the gasengine is drawn fromthe chamber 6 at two opposite points through annular openings. When,110w, the engine takes its supply of gas, the gas in the chamber 6isonly locally and very slightly disturbed, owing to the thin film that isdrawn into the pipes 8 8. As the aggregate area of the holes 7 is manytimes the area of the pipe 9, and as they connect the chamber 6 with thelarge chamber 5, the momentum of the flowing gas in the large chamber isnot increased. The reaction by the sudden closing of the gas-valve onthe engine does not act directly on the gas in the branch 3, but actsradially on the large mass of gas in the chamber 6 and locally throughthe openings 7 on the much larger mass of gas in an upward direction ata point far removed from the outlets 4 4. The pressure in the pipe 3,and consequently in the gas-main, is not disturbed, owing to the absenceof any direct impulse, the large quantity of the gas in the chambers,and most essentially by the instantaneous enlargement of the volume ofthe gas by any diminution of pressure, acting as a cushion against thereaction.

Practical use of the device has demonstrated that all the lights in thebuilding burn perfectly steady while the gas-engine is running, and awater-gage connected with the branch pipe 3 or to the gas-main shows noperceptible change in the pressure of the gas, where, be fore the use ofthe pressure-equalizer, the fiuctations in the gage and the lights wereexcessive and made the use of both the lights and gas-enginesimultaneously impossible.

The pipes 3 and 9, either or both, may be provided with three or morelateral openings, like 4 and 8.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. A pressure equalizer consisting in a supplypipeprovided with lateral outlets opening into a large chamber, a smallerchamber connected with the larger by a series of openings, and adischarge-pipe having lateral openings in the small chamber, asdescribed.

2. 111a pressure-equalizer placed intermediate between a gas-engine andthe gas-supply pipe, the combination, with the pipe 3, provided with thelateral outlets 4 4 and the chamber 5, of the chamber 6, provided withthe openings 7, and the pipe 9, having the lateral inlets 8, asdescribed.

3. The combination, with the chamber 5, of

the pipe 3 and lateral outlets 4, constructed PATRICK MoGEE. Witnesses:

J. A. MILLER, J12, M. F. BLIGI-I.

